


Connections

by Eastofthemoon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drama, Friendship/Love, Gen, Mentors, reflections
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-19 23:06:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11323614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eastofthemoon/pseuds/Eastofthemoon
Summary: What do you say to a man you’ve never met?  Heck, his A.I.-ghost-memory-thing had tried to kill them all.  On that note, Hunk wasn’t quite sure how he ended up meeting King Alfor in a middle of a flower field in the first place.





	Connections

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt given to me by Worldflower who wished to see a conversation between King Alfor and Hunk. So, decided to go with this idea. Hope you all like this!

Hunk drummed his fingers against his knee as he felt the wind tickle his ears. “So...um...what do we talk about?”

King Alfor sat across from him calmly, offering a friendly smile. “Anything,” he said as he waved a hand towards him. “We are free to discuss anything you wish.”

Hunk rubbed his neck. That didn’t help him. At all. What do you say to a man you’ve never met? Heck, his A.I.-ghost-memory-thing had tried to kill them all. On that note, Hunk wasn’t quite sure how he ended up meeting King Alfor in a middle of a flower field in the first place.

For some reason, not remembering how he'd gotten here didn’t seem to bother Hunk too much.

Hunk chewed his bottom lip as he struggled to find a topic he could discuss with the Altean King. There was only one thing that came to mind, and truthfully it didn’t feel right to ignore it.

“Allura misses you,” Hunk said softly. “A lot.”

King Alfor’s smile turned into a sad frown. “I know, and I miss her as well.” He gave a sigh as he dropped his hands into his lap. “I wish could still be there to guide her in person, but I knew that our destiny was to part. So-”

“That’s why you recorded your memories. I get that part,” Hunk said earnestly. “But, even when she had that around, I know she missed that real you.”

Allura never talked with Hunk about the subject, but it was easily to guess from the sad looks Allura had whenever she passed the memory recording pods.

King Alfor gave a sad nod. “I know, but as much as I wish I could be there to protect her, I no longer have the power.” He raised his head. “All I can do now is entrust her safety to you and your fellow Paladins.”

Hunk frowned as he glanced to his hands. “I’m not sure I have a right to be here.”

“Oh?” King Alfor asked. “Why do you say that?”

Hunk cleared his throat. “Well...I mean, I only came along because I wanted to keep Lance and Pidge from getting themselves into more trouble than usual.” He lifted his head to look the king in the eye. “Shiro needed to stop the Galra from getting the Blue Lion, and Keith was trying to protect him. Pidge was just trying to find her family and Lance...well, it was partly to one-up Keith and also to follow Shiro who he’s idolized for a long time.” He gave a shrug. “I didn’t have any reason to be here other than following Lance and Pidge.”

Really, Hunk had forgotten just how many times he had gotten dragged into something just because he was trying to keep an eye on Lance. He had figured out a long time ago that Lance had a bad habit of jumping into something without fully thinking out the consequences. Sure, he had gotten better at it in recent years, but Hunk still felt the need to watch his back.

King Alfor offered a small smile. “You say that, and yet are you not the one who insisted your team save the Balmera and its people?”

“Yeah, but that was because it was the right thing to do,” Hunk said with a firm frown. “It didn’t matter if I was a Paladin or not. We couldn’t leave them to suffer, especially after Shay did so much to help me and Coran.”

“Perhaps,” King Alfore replied as he stroked his beard, “but the Yellow Lion chose you to be its new Paladin.”

Hunk opened and shut his mouth. “Not really, I mean I’m only piloting Yellow because Allura told me to.” He tugged at this shirt. “Frankly, and I mean no offense, Sir, but I’m half convinced she just assigned us by the colour of our clothes.”

It had been something that had been nagging him and Pidge for awhile. It was a bizarre coincidence that the colours of their lions matched the clothes they had been wearing that day.

King Alfor blinked and, for a fearful moment, Hunk was terrified he had insulted the Altean. Yet, to his amazement, the king chuckled.

“That would be something she might have done, but I assure you in this case she did not.” 

Hunk frowned thoughtfully as King Alfor picked one of the purple flowers from the field. “The lions and Allura have been connected spiritually. That was done so that Allura would be able to sense the quintessence of both the lions and any potential Paladins to see if there was a suitable match.”

“Oh,” Hunk replied as his shoulders slumped a little. “So...Yellow picked me because Allura told him to.”

King Alfor lowered the flower. “Not quite, you didn’t permit me to finish explaining.” Hunk raised his head in interest as the king continued. “It is true that Allura can sense which lion best matches a potential Paladin, but there is no guarantee that the chosen lion will accept whichever Paladin is offered to it.”

“There isn’t?” Hunk said in surprised.

King Alfor shook his head. “The lions take choosing their suitable Paladins very seriously. In the end, they make the final decision.” 

Hunk chewed his bottom lip. “Okay, but...there weren't exactly a lot of choices at the time for Yellow. For any of them, really. He might have picked me because he was kind of out of options.”

“No, I can assure you that is not how the Yellow Lion thinks,” King Alfor said as he patted Hunk's shoulder. “The Yellow Lion chose you because, in that instant, it felt a soul it could bond with. It is generous by nature, but if you had not been a suitable Paladin it would have refused.” He gave Hunk a small smile. “I should know, seeing as I was the previous Yellow Paladin.”

Hunk’s eyes widened slightly. “You...you were the previous Yellow Paladin?”

King Alfor gave a nod as he returned his hands to his lap. “Yes, and like you, I often questioned whether I had any right to be a Paladin. In my youth, I frequently worried I had been chosen solely due to my royal status.”

Hunk’s eyes hardened. “But, I know Yellow. He wouldn’t have chosen you because of that alone.”

“No, and I know the Yellow Lion did not choose you simply because you were there. You were destined to be a Paladin, Hunk.” He gave a small bow of his head as he handed the small purple flower to Hunk. “And I am honored to have you as my successor.”

Hunk raised his hand, but hesitated short of taking the flower. However, when he heard a soft growl in his head, encouraging yet stern, Hunk found himself pinching the flower's stem between his fingers.

“Thank you, your Highness,” Hunk said softly. “I will try to do you proud.”

King Alfor smiled at him. “You already have.” The wind began to blow harder. “I believe you are about to wake up.”

A fierce surge of wind came, abruptly scattering the flowers around Hunk. “Wait, what? Wake up? This wasn't some weird time travel-”

“Yes,” King Alfor interrupted as Hunk’s vision began to blur. “Take care, and please. Look after Allura now that I cannot.”

Before Hunk could say another word, the field and the Altean King vanished. He tried to reach out to him, but instead found himself falling out of bed and landing face first on the floor.

Hunk groaned as he sat up and rubbed his sore nose. “What the quiznak,” he grumbled as he sat up.

He was back in his room where, to his best recollection, he had been sleeping. 

_Right, I was exhausted after that whole haunted castle business,_ he thought and then paused. _So what was that dream then?_

A knock came at the door.

“Hunk, you up?!” Pidge called out. “I need your help on making sure the system cache was flushed properly!”

“Just a second,” Hunk grumbled as he sat up. “Geez, I’m not even dressed yet.”

He went to change his clothes, but then felt something silky brush against his foot. Hunk glanced down and spied a purple flower by his toes. Silently, Hunk picked it up and twirled it between his fingers.

Logically speaking, he should have been more freaked about it - seeing a flower on the floor he'd only been given in a dream, that is. However, Hunk found himself strangely calm upon seeing it. It was almost soothing. Hunk placed the flower on the shelf and gave it a small bow.

“I’ll do you proud,” Hunk whispered before he went to get dressed.


End file.
